


Perceptions

by singedsun



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 13:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20742866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singedsun/pseuds/singedsun
Summary: After learning about Varric and Cassandra's fight when Cassandra learns that Varric had been lying about Hawke's whereabouts, Hawke attempts to apologize to Cassandra."--alright. I don't know, Cassandra. What would you like from me? I'm here now and I don't want things to be awkward between us if they don't have to be. Neither of us can go back now and fix what happened. Nor can I say with certainty what I would or wouldn't have done if you'd shown up a year ago… or more."





	Perceptions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Toshi_Nama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toshi_Nama/gifts).

Cassandra cuts an imposing figure in the training yard. Hawke watches her from over the wall, leaning down on his forearms as she walks away from a group of a soldiers for a swig from a nearby canteen. The group is dismissed and the Knight Commander, Cullen, is pulling a small number of them aside.

Hawke sees Cassandra cutting away from the remaining soldiers. She removes her gloves to wipe sweat from her forehead as she starts walking towards the stairs. Hawke straightens, turning in time for her to find him on the first landing.

"Seeker," he greets.

"Hawke." She stops and looks him over with a frown.

He can hear her heavy breathing as she meets his gaze, her face is red from training. She nods at him and then brushes past him to the next set of stairs.

Hawke turns after her and calls out, "Wait, Seeker."

She hesitates on the next stair.

As soon as he starts moving towards her, she continues up the stairs, making him jog to catch up. They hit the next landing in stride together.

She turns to him expectantly, gesturing with the gloves in her hands.

"I wanted to apologize," he says.

"Apologize."

He nods, "And I hope you don't hate Varric too much for keeping my secret. He's a good friend."

"Obviously."

He sighs. Cassandra is still frowning.

"So… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner."

Cassandra huffs and her gaze falls away from him, attention briefly distracted by someone entering the tavern as the bell over the door jingles. Hawke stills, waiting for her to do or say something.

He hadn't planned much further than this apology.

Varric had told him what happened after Cassandra discovered he'd been keeping Hawke's secret, how the Inquisitor had interceded somewhat on Varric's behalf. Now that he was here, Hawke wanted to dissolve the tension. No way they could work together if Cassandra hated him for not having been there from the beginning. And Varric seemed to have a soft spot for the woman, despite her attitude toward him. It was clear Varric respected her, and Hawke was trying not to make his reappearance harder than it already was.

It takes several moments, but eventually Cassandra looks back at him, sighing heavily as their eyes meet.

"Would you have come?" She asks. "Before all this, if Varric had given you up, or if I'd hadn't believed him and come after you myself, would you have agreed to come with me? Would you have enlisted? Gone to the Conclave?"

"I'd likely be dead if I had." Hawke says. "From what Varric and the Inquisitor have explained, I'm not sure what I could've done."

A messenger passes them on the wall, greeting the Seeker before descends the stairs.

"That's not the question I asked." Cassandra gestures past him with her gloves and starts walking away from the landing.

Hawke follows after her, waiting until they're away from the flow of traffic to the tavern or the stairs to continue the conversation. She tosses her gloves down on a nearby barrel and leans against a low wall. Her gaze is piercing as she waits on him for an answer, brows lifted and creased with expectation.

"Depends…" He shrugs. "Maybe, depending on the circumstances."

"Explain."

"If Varric had just given me up, which I have a very hard time believing he ever would've done, I might've come just to rescue him from whatever prison you had him in. Not sure that would've been me enlisting in any plans the Divine had though."

Cassandra nods but it's a small, contemplative movement. "And if I'd found you on my own?"

"I likely would've refused. I don't know if you noticed when you were there, but Kirkwall is a fucking mess. I feel bad leaving it now, it's got it's own war on the horizon… but that only happens if there's a way to beat Corypheus." He shrugs. "I don't think you knew that then, though… did you?"

She sniffs, turning her gaze to her boots. "We needed a leader."

"So did Kirkwall."

"This is bigger."

"Now it is."

She lets out a long breath. "Apology accepted, I suppose." She pushes off from the wall, standing and collecting her gloves. "Thank you."

"That's it?" Hawke asks.

"What's it?"

"All those questions? And now that's it?"

"What would you like from me, Hawke?"

"I don't know, Seeker--"

"Cassandra."

"--alright. I don't know, Cassandra. What would you like from me? I'm here now and I don't want things to be awkward between us if they don't have to be. Neither of us can go back now and fix what happened. Nor can I say with certainty what I would or wouldn't have done if you'd shown up a year ago… or more."

"You're not much like Varric describes you."

Hawke steps back and cracks a smile. "Oh?"

"I certainly didn't expect an apology, or such truth from you." She says.

"Does he make me out to be a liar then?"

Cassandra lets out a small smile of her own at that and shakes her head. "No, just a bit more romantic, I suppose."

Hawke scoffs. "A romantic?"

She puts a hand to her forehead and shakes her head again. "Not what I meant… just that he paints a more…" She sighs. "He's a writer, so he embellishes--"

He holds up a hand. "You don't have to explain. I've heard some of his stories. And I haven't read the books, but I've heard plenty about them."

"As I said, I wouldn't have expected…this." She waves her gloves between them to encompass the situation.

"Sure, should I swagger back in and try to sweep you off your feet instead? Seduction instead of apology?" Hawke grins as he says it, and enjoys the way Cassandra's cheeks redden at the suggestion. She looks away, but he can see that she's also still smiling. And perhaps there's a laugh in her, bubbling up.

When she doesn't respond right away, he quickly turns around and dramatically reaches for her hand. "Dearest Seeker, could you at all be persuaded into the tavern for a drink with such a man as the ruggedly handsome specimen before you?" He leans into the words, playacting the suave warrior Isabela has described to him from Varric's books. "I don't know what I'll do if you refuse."

Cassandra does chuckle then, but her gaze darts around for any potential onlookers as she pulls her hand away from him.

Hawke tilts his head at the tavern. "I would love to buy you a drink to put this behind us, if you're up for it, Seeker."

"That's not quite what I had in mind," she says.

"Cassandra!" Hawke holds a hand to his chest, acting scandalized. "I can't believe--"

"What? Maker, no! I didn't, I was just--"

"A joke, Cassandra. I know you meant my acting. It's atrocious, I've been told."

Cassandra's face is completely red and she stands before him breathless for a moment before a nervous laugh bubbles out of her.

"It's not so bad," she says as her breath comes back to her. "But yet, I hadn't quite pictured that version of you… although…" She tilts her head. "It's a bit closer to what I'd pictured from his stories. He paints a colorful character."

"Yes, he does." Hawke gestures toward the tavern, "Can I buy you that drink though? I feel as though I owe you one. Or a dozen."

Cassandra smiles. "I think I'd like that."


End file.
